Matte
Matte Top Coats – Let’s Compare
 Love it or hate it, Matte Nails are the big trend for Fall. With all the matte nail polish collections coming out, it will be a hard style to ignore. If you’re not ready to jump in feet first, why not try a matte top coat instead? Using them to mattify any polish in your arsenal makes it a more versatile and budget friendly way to embrace the look. Give your tried and true shades an update with a new finish.
From flat to satin there are a plethora of choices in the non-glossy top coat realm and I’ve tried them all so you don’t have to. Check out the results after the jump! |
First things first. There are certain things you give up in using a matte top coat.
Essie Matte About You ($10, essie.com) and Rescue Beauty Lounge Matte Top Coat ($18, RescueBeauty.com) are the most mattifying top coats I’ve come across. If you desire that truly flat finish this is your best option. The cloudiness does lighten the shade a touch but not significantly. Here’s my problem with that. They showed butter London’s Nail Foundation ($18, butterLondon.com) as an example yet they neglected to explain that only ridge filling base coats dry matte. Using your clear or tacky base coats won’t achieve that look. Overly opaque or shimmery ridge fillers won’t get it done either. Nonie Creme of butter London used her Nail Foundation over Yummy Mummy backstage at Alexander Wang to matte down the shine and in this instance using a base coat totally worked. She even sent me a pic from her iPhone to share with you (above). However when I used it over my test shade, OPI No Room For The Blues, it didn’t turn out as well. The nude pigmentation in the base changed the color drastically. If you don’t mind that, it’s a simple mattifying solution but I still prefer a matte top coat.
Nubar V For Men Matte Finish Nail Protector ($8.99, ByNubar.com) comes in a close 2nd to Essie and RBL in terms matte-ness and I love that it’s more forgiving in terms of application. It applies smooth and even every time.
Now for those wanting a satin style nail, the next three options are ideal. They take down the gloss giving a more buffed look. Orly Matte Top Coat is actually discontinued but still available on Head2ToeBeauty.com for $4.95 so get it while supplies last.
Orly Nails for Males ($6.99, SallyBeauty.com) performs similarly to the Matte Top Coat in spite of its dark appearance.
Finally, Barielle’s Matte-inee Top Coat will be launching soon on Barielle.com.
I received quite a few questions regarding InStyle’s June issue. One of the tips in the Summer beauty section was about matte nails. They suggested using “your base coat as a top coat to remove the shine from your lacquer.” 
So did this clear up a lot of your questions reagarding matte top coats? Which do you prefer… matte top coats or matte polish? Or do you wish this whole matte thing would just go away already? Sound off Fanatics!
Rescue Beauty Lounge Fall 2009 Blogger Created Collection
 If the amazing Ji Baek, founder of Rescue Beauty Lounge, asked you to create your dream polish what would you do? After picking yourself up off the floor of course. All fainting aside, that was the honor/privilege/challenge bestowed upon myself and fellow nail bloggers Polish Addict and Scrangie. If I do say so myself, we rose to the occasion contributing to one knockout of a Fall collection.We didn’t set out to create a matched set but my purple, Steph’s green and Scrangie’s sparkling mix of the two is a green & purple lovers delight. Check them out along with Rescue’s new Matte Top Coat after the jump! |
Now that Steph is back to posting and has had a chance to reveal her creation, I can show you my swatches of the set. As per usual, the consistency and pigmentation of all three shades live up to Rescue’s amazing reputation. I know of no other cremes that are so spot on in application, coverage and finish. It’s unreal!
You’ve seen Mismas before but a reader commented that my original image didn’t do the color any favors so here is take two. Seriously you guys I NEVER wear polishes more than once. With as many as I have it doesn’t make sense. But I have had Mismas on my toes or fingers for pretty much the entire summer, I love it that much. I wanted the perfect purple creme and now I have it. Ji, I love you for creating her. She’s simply spectacular!
Here’s my girl with Ji’s new Matte Top Coat. The formula is milky in appearance and is one of the most mattifying top coats I’ve tried. It gives a frosted glass look and the milkiness lightens the hue ever so slightly.
When I heard Steph from Polish Addict was creating a grayed green creme, I knew without even seeing it that Orbis Non Sufficit and I would be lifelong friends. It’s just dusty enough to stand out among every other green I own.
I think I like it even better as a Matte. What about you? One word of caution with matte top coats. They are very unforgiving in regards to imperfections so use just a few quick, even strokes for a smooth finish.
Images really don’t do Scrangie justice. You have to see the blue-green shimmer in person to truly appreciate it. According to Scrangie, the inspiration was a beetle wing. The bluish-purple base is filled with iridescent shimmer and glitter to create one blingtastic polish.
Of all three polishes in this collection I think Scrangie makes the best Matte. Maybe it’s just me but I prefer to mattify shimmer/glitter polishes. It’s like you’re freezing the sparkle in time or something.
The Blogger created Fall 2009 collection from Rescue Beauty Lounge is available for Pre-Order NOW and will ship very, very soon. The polishes and Matte Top Coat retail for $18/ea. If you don’t want to miss out on any of these colors, I suggest you order as soon as possible as the polishes are limited edition.
So what do you think Fanatics?? How did we do? Which polishes do you plan to order? Will these be your first RBLs or just additions to your growing stash?
Zoya Matte Velvet 5 Day Wear Test Results
Good afternoon fanatics! I’m here to update you on how the Zoya Matte Velvet polish held up during my 5 day wear test. I gave Dovima a whirl using CND Stickey base coat on my index and ring fingers and nothing on the rest.
Much like the OPI Mattes, Dovima started chipping on my ring finger and thumb post shower on day two and it just got worse frm there. The chipping on my middle finger didn’t really start until day three and as you can tell, it held up much better than the other two.
Also like the OPI Mattes, the fingers with base coat just experience minor tip wear but the application wasn’t as good. There was streaking, pulling and holes on the first coat that were hard to even out on the second but I made it happen.
As the week went on, just coming in brief contact with water, my face creams and body lotions affected the finish. It becomes more satiny and lighter in color. What you see below is after a full five days.
Normally doing a five day wear test on a new polish is no big thing. I do it because I want to give you all an accurate report on how a brand’s formula wears. But I gotta say, testing matte polish absolutely sucks! Because while I don’t care what people think when they see me wearing four different polish colors, I abhor staring at chipped tips. It brings out my urge to pick so the last couple days were pretty tourturous.
Bottom line, when it comes to matte polishes… WEAR A BASE COAT. I don’t care what the instructions say, if you want to avoid staining and immediate chipping, wear a base coat. Nuff said! Enjoy your Saturday. I hope you have something fun planned.
Zoya Matte Velvet Review and Swatches
 I doubt you can take any more buildup over the new Matte Velvet collection from Zoya so I’m happy to be able to FINALLY share the goods with you. As I’ve previously stated, Matte Velvet is Zoya’s entry in the emerging matte nail polish trend. The lineup includes three shimmering shades in a unique matte finish formula. Check them out after the jump! |
Right off the bat, I was already loving these polishes WAY more than the OPI Mattes (La Paz being the lone exception) due to the shimmer. It keeps the polish from looking like flat wall paint which for me is a good thing. And unlike slapping a layer of matte top coat on a shimmery polish (see below) this polish is truly matte and non-reflective.
We need to discuss for the formula for a sec before jumping into the swatches. Like the OPI Mattes these polish dry SUPER FAST so make haste when applying. They’re also pretty thick and can EASILY go on uneven. In fact, I had to redo a couple nails because I wasn’t quick or accurate enough. Though the bonus of them drying so fast is the lack of wait time. You can be out the door in 5 minutes with these polishes.
Again, we’re faced with the no base coat rule which I really don’t understand. As you remember from my experiment with the OPI Mattes the only decent wear was while using a base coat. If anyone with chemistry knowledge can riddle me why this is the recommendation, I know we’d ALL appreciate it. (CHECK UPDATE BELOW)
Posh is a deep burgundy shimmer. It looks very berry-ish when wet but dries more red wine.
Loredana is a chalky charcoal shimmer matte (sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it?) that reminds me of cement. It was the thickest and most difficult to apply of the three and also my least fave. Not like a thumbs down least favorite but more like non-essential to my life.
When I first slapped it on last Friday I was all, “Rut-roh! Me thinks I see a Man Glaze dupe. Drama!!” but it’s clearly not. Fuggen Ugly is more gray with a subtle satin sheen while Loredana has a cooler, blue undertone that is completely flat. If I’m being honest, even though I hate the brand name (Man Glaze, really? Double entendre much?), I prefer the formula.
Dovima is a black shimmer that reminds me of honed black granite. It’s another shade that leans a little cool instead of being a true black. I imagine due to the silver shimmer.
To give you an idea of how these compare to a traditional polish with a matte top coat, I paired Dovima with CND Hyde In The Dark topped with Nubar V for Men Matte Finish Nail Protector (that’s a mouthful!). The matte top coat not only lightened the look of Hyde but it also left a satin finish instead of a true matte.
In regards to the wear, I threw on Loredana last Friday and after taking a shower on Saturday it was so badly chipped I had to take it off before being seen in public. It wasn’t like cool chipping (not that I really think that exists). It was more like you’re-too-lazy-go-home-and-make-love-to-your-polish-remover chipping! Since I could give two figs about going to work with a broke down mani, I’ll be testing the formula with & without base coat this week and reporting the results on Saturday.
EDITED TO UPDATE – Answer regarding base coat usage courtesy of Zoya’s Leo Reyzis:
The film properties of matte formulas are not consistent with the properties of regular polish therefore when one gets applied over the other there is a different rate of drying which causes distortions in the surface tensions of both films, best seen as ridges and valleys that will form on the polish surface (as well infinitely endless drying time). If a basecoat is still desired you must wait for base to dry completely for matte formulas to be applied on top. This may help extend wear however the surface must be completely dry and residue free prior to applying matte formula.
That totally makes sense since I did report poor OPI Matte application when using a basecoat. Thanks for the answer Leo!
The Matte Velvet nail polishes retail for $6/ea and can be pre-ordered now on Zoya.com with a July 1st ship date.
So all you matte haters? What do you say now? Matte lovers… are you like totally dying or what?
Coming Soon – Orly Matte Couture
And the MATTES just keep on coming! Orly is getting in on the matte game with their upcoming Matte Couture collection for Fall. What I’m happy to see is that, unlike the other brands, Orly says you can use a basecoat and I’m so on board with that. Though reading that they’re cremes makes me wonder if they’ll be flat like the OPI Mattes or more satiny like the Orly Matte top coat.
Always the trend-setters, ORLY introduces Matte Couture, a collection of matte lacquers created to keep you on the cusp of this fashion-forward craze. Best worn alone or over your favorite ORLY basecoat, just brush on two coats of your favorite Matte Couture lacquer for rave-worthy matte nails.
Put on your Blue Suede shoes (and nails!) in blue crème
Play your favorite (Matte) Vinyl record in black crème
That crushed Purple Velvet suit gets an updated look in purple crème
The Matte Couture Collection will be available starting September 2009 for $7.50 each. Orly is available at orlybeauty.com, Sally Beauty, ULTA and of course our fave e-tailers.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
